Of Love and War
by Eevee
Summary: Love, comradeship, great plans and not quite watertight matchmaking [a sad attempt at Daikeru. Chapter 4 of 6 and freshly rewritten as of recent updates]
1. Of Love, Ice Cream and Best Friends

Yup, I rewrote it. It needed to be done, particularly as this is my one dabbling into mainstream couplings and people actually _like_ it and stuff.

Appropriate warnings: Matchmaking Fic with a stupidity level that borders to parody. Cody's existence. Four-letter words. Dub names. Shounen-ai, shoujo-ai and het: Namely Daikeru, something I'm not quite sure qualifies as Taito as well as Hiyako and eventually Kenyako implications.

-----

**Part 1: Of Love, Ice Cream, and Friendship**

_In which we learn about crushes and Davis makes a mistake_

Davis did not often ask for help. Most of the time, this was because he had a confidence in himself unlike most others, and didn't think he needed it (well, Ken said confidence. Yolei said stupidity). Sometimes, when he _did_ realize that he needed help, he did not want to ask for it because he didn't want the ones that could help him to help him, and sometimes, he was simply too proud.

Today, however, he seemed to have surrendered all defenses. He must have had: He had asked Yolei for assistance with his love life.

"So…" The girl looked at Davis over her soda, glasses sliding down to the very tip of her nose in the process "What did you need my help for?"

"Not _your_ help. You and _Kari's_." The boy replied, poking his ice cream with the spoon without explaining any further; it had begun to melt, something that rarely happened to ice cream meant to be eaten by Davis. The 'Kari' factor was important here, although it hardly could cover the mistake he realized he had made after hanging up the phone and requested Yolei's support in this. Only girls and madmen asked Yolei for any sort of advice regarding love, and he'd maintained the feeble hope that their mellow friend would be able to offer more sensible solutions to his problems; Yolei listened to Kari.

Sometimes.

Well, more than she listened to _him_, anyway.

"Well, we're both here now!" The girl said as she spread her arms wide enough to nearly hit Kari's face. She would have, too, had the brunette not dodged. Living in the same house as Tai and three soccer balls had given her the advantage of better reflexes than most girls her age.

"Uh huh."

"So…"

"What?"

"We can't help you unless we know what we're going to help you with!"

"Oh. That…" Davis looked out of the window and started meshing together what was left of ice cream to brown mush. Demiveemon, who long ago had cleaned out his cup, was observing it hungrily.

"_WELL_?!"

"There's no reason to scream!" he snapped back.

"I'm not screaming! Tell us what's wrong!"

"I'm trying my best here!"

And he went back to the ice cream.

"Come on! " Yolei demanded after nearly another minute of silence. Davis flinched, before he looked at the two girls sitting on the other side of the table, and then down on what had once been his ice cream.

"You see," He looked hopefully up at them, but it was obvious that neither did. His smile faltered again, "It's kinda that… I… er…"

"Yes?" Yolei said with smile that reeked of sugar, all too obviously amused by the boy's hesitation. Davis glowered at her without saying anything, and she countered with a cool look she never had the chance of giving anybody but him. The minimal staring contest ended with Davis finally conceding, deliberately ignoring the smug smile that tugged at her lips. He reached over to push Demiveemon down from the table instead. The blue Digimon squeaked out a protest of some sort as he landed on the pile of schoolbooks he'd been sitting at before, and instantly tried to climb up again. Davis didn't seem to notice.

"I kinda have this crush on somebody." He admitted, eyes set on the table in front of him.

"And I take it that it's not me." Kari said, not really asking.

"Yeah, that's kinda part of the problem." He said. Neither girl said anything for a while, before Kari at last opened her mouth again.

"I don't see why it is a problem that you don't have a crush on me anymore. It's not that I… want to be mean or anything, but I don't think I ever could have… liked you back or anything." She stopped herself, blushed slightly from the interested eyes for Davis and Yolei, and the continued speaking, "You're not my type."

"Anyway," Davis continued when it was obvious that nothing more would be said about the matter that day, "The other thing is… er… _who_ I have this crush on."

This piqued Yolei's interest even more than his first confession. Kari was, in fact, faintly surprised that the question hadn't come sooner. "Who is it? Is it that cute girl in your biology class? Or Mimi? It isn't me, is it?!"

He stared at her in disbelief. "You?!"

" I had to pick a likely suggestion!"

"And that would be _you_?!"

"What are you insinuating, Motomiya?! As far as I am concerned I _am_ your closes female friend sans Kari here, and…"

"I think we should let Davis continue." Kari said and placed both hands on Yolei's shoulders, effectively dragging her down to her seat again. The girl seemed to forget the recent insults to her person, and leaned over the table again in her eager to hear the news from the reluctant boy instead.

"Do we know her?"

"Um…" he started fidgeting with the menu, "See, that is really the problem. It… it's not really a… _her_…"

"You're _GAY_?!"

"No!" he shrieked as Kari leaned over and clamped a hand over the other girl's mouth. But it was too late, and everybody in the small café was staring at the four occupants of the table as if they were insane. Giving what she hoped was a charming smile, Kari yanked Yolei closer to herself, whispered a few words into her ear, and released her as Davis pushed Demiveemon down again and demanded to know what the hell the other customers were looking at. After Kari also had told Davis to sit down again, the conversation at the table resumed.

"No." The boy repeated softly, scooping brown cream into his spoon and slowly letting it drip into the bowl again as Demiveemon's eyes were rapidly growing in size, "I'm not gay. I mean, I used to like Kari and stuff, so…"

"You're, like, bi?"

"Bi what?"

"Bisexual." Kari explained, and explained further at the blank stare she received in response, "You like both boys and girls."

"No! I mean, I like girls, it's just kinda this one guy…."

"One guy's enough." Yolei concluded, a grin spreading over her face, "Imagine that, Davis Motomiya is _gay_!"

"I'm not! I just told you that I don't like boys!"

"Yeah, just after telling us that you're having a crush on one!"

"Guys, calm down!" Kari said, sensing that the situation was about to get out of control again, "We're here to help Davis with whatever his problem is, not make fun of him because of it!"

Yolei looked a bit disappointed, but obediently closed her mouth and stopped the taunting. Davis, who probably hadn't been far from jumping over the table to get a better angle, sat down too, and finally noticed the sniffles and vastly overdone sobs coming from the pile of books to his left.

"So who is it?" Kari asked gently, and Davis smiled gratefully at her, but then looked down at his bowl again and blushed.

"You'll laugh." He muttered.

"You were the one who dragged us down here to help you with this problem of yours, and if this guy _is _the problem, we need to know who he is!" Yolei said, sounding uncharacteristically effective. Davis didn't reply.

"I promise we won't laugh." Kari said, "Right Yolei?"  
"I can't talk for you, Kari, but – ow! – Of course!" she agreed, rubbing her arm where Kari's elbow had hit her.

"It's TA."

The table sat in utter silence for ten seconds, and then Yolei spoke again.

"You – have a crush on TK? As in 'Takeru Takaishi'?"

Davis looked at his chocolate soup and nodded silently.

There was a silence for about three minutes before Kari finally knew what to say. But before she had the chance, she was interrupted by Yolei breaking down in helpless gales of laughter.

-----

"So, Davis, what's the… _pull yourself together_!" the last words were hissed at Yolei, who, despite having been relatively quiet for the last minute, still was having troubles breathing.

"I'm sorry." The other girl sniffled and took off her glasses, wiping her eyes with her sleeve before she set them back on, "It's just that…" she looked over at Davis and immediately broke down in helpless laugher again.

"You _promised_!" the boy whined and slumped further on the bench. After five minutes of Yolei's convulsive laugher her two friends had dragged her out of the café, and they were now in a nearby park, waiting for her to get over the bout of mirth. It didn't seem to be happening anytime soon, as she would start laughing every time she looked at Davis.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, looking at him and obviously having a great deal of trouble with not to burst out laughing once again, "But this is just too priceless."

"You would think so." Davis grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at nothing in particular.

Kari, feeling an unusual amount of sympathy for the boy, put her hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "It'll be okay. Look, even if Yolei is… um…" she cast her DNA digivolve partner a _look_, and the girl actually met her eyes.

"I'll be good." She promised, wiping her eyes one last time before turning to Davis, this time not even smiling. "So when are you planning on telling him?"

The only reply she received was a blank stare.

"_Telling_ him?"

"Well, when you like somebody, the thing most people do is telling them and then asking them out." Yolei summarized, not looking annoyed _quite_ yet. It didn't seem to make any more impact than their previous sentences: Davis stared at his two female friends like they'd just suggested that he'd apply for a top job in NASA.

"You want me to _tell_ him?"

They both nodded.

"Why do you want me to do _that_?"

The two girls looked at each other, and it took a while before Kari finally gave an attempt at replying.

"You… you do like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, and?"

"And nothing!" Yolei exclaimed, starting to look slightly worried.

"What?" and Davis looked somewhere between appalled, scared, and angry. The communication seemed to be getting up to speed again. "Are you nuts?! I can't _tell_ him! Do you have any idea about how embarrasing that would be?" he exclaimed, the disbelieving look he gave them laced with disgust at the idea. He even backed away from them on the bench.

"But if you're not going to tell him, what did you want help for then?!" Yolei was flabbergasted, all traces of her previous amusement with the situation gone.

"To help me get rid of it, of course!" Davis said, apparently thinking that it made perfect sense. When the two others just kept on staring wide-eyed at him he continued, "Do you think I _wanted_ this to happen? I mean, he's a _guy_, and he's… he's **TK**, and Matt Ishida's brother so my sister will kill me, and I'd never stand a chance and he likes _her_ anyway!" the last word was emphasized by a finger pointing at Kari.

Neither girl said anything after this rant, and Davis kept staring at them as if they had problems grasping that two plus two equaled four.

"So you're _not_ going to tell him?" Kari at last offered weakly, still more confused than anything else.

"Dude, that's just impossible!"

The staring from all three parties continued for another small eternity, until Yolei finally pulled her eyes to herself again.

"So you want our help to fall _out_ of love." She concluded, and Davis nodded eagerly.

"That can be a problem."

The boy's face fell. "A _problem_? What do you mean, a 'problem'?! You're girls, don't you know all sorts of things about love and stuff like that?"

"Davis, it's just not possible to command yourself, or anybody else for that matter, to just 'fall out of love'." Kari said.

"You can't?"

They both shook their heads at him, and Davis suddenly looked very, very helpless.

"You mean I'm _stuck_ like this?!" he asked at last. The answer was two silent nods.

"But… but there gotta be something we can do, right? Like… er… like an anti-love potion or something like that, or maybe…"

"Trust me Davis." Kari said and put a hand on his shoulder, "When you're in love with somebody, the only thing to do is to either tell them, or wait for it to pass."

Davis looked like he was going to protest further, but at last slumped down and stared depressed at his shoelaces.

"Man, that sucks."

"I know." Kari said, pulling her hand to herself again and staring at lap.

"You're in love with somebody you can't have too?!"

For supposedly having some sort of connection to love, it surprised Kari that Yolei had such a passion for her friends suffering for the unrequited kind, and she settled with looking away and ignoring the blush that spread over her cheeks as she replied.

"It doesn't really matter."

"Tell me who it is!"

Kari looked up at Yolei, and blushed even more.

"I said, it doesn't matter!" she repeated angrily and glared at the violet-haired girl, "And if it doesn't bother you too much, I'd really like to talk about Davis, who actually _can_ do something about his situation!" She regretted the harsh words once she saw the hurt look on Yolei's face, but instead of apologizing she turned to Davis again.

"I'm not going to tell him!" the boy said before she had the change to open her mouth.

"But then what…"

"Nothing." He seemed to think for a few seconds, "Do you think Izzy knows how to help me?"

"Nope. Definitely not." Yolei replied.

"Joe?"

"I don't think so." Kari said.

"Who else is smart… er… Cody?"

"Aside from being TK's DNA digivolve partner? I don't really think there is a lot he can do about it."

"Damn."

"What about Ken?" Yolei suggested.

"Don't you think I've _tried_?!" he said, sounding annoyed, "No, little Mr. Boy Genius Who Aces All and Every Test He Takes told me he wasn't the one to help me, but agreed that it wasn't practical to have a crush on somebody who isn't likely to return your feelings."

"Ken, too?"

"Yolei!"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with some healthy curiosity!"

"That's gossip!"

"I…"

The three of them sat in silence for a while.

"I really _am_ stuck like this, right?"

"I'm afraid so." Kari said, gently patting his back, "I'm afraid so."

-----

"Ken? Can I ask you something?" Cody said as they rounded a street corner, having walked five minutes in complete silence.

"Of course." Ken said, offering a gentle smile. Calling the two of them good friends would be to exaggerate, but there were no awkward feelings between them anymore, even if they weren't as close as the others within their little group. They were currently on their way home from a visit with Joe: Ken because he was tired of the computer as a chess partner, and Cody simply because he liked the company of the older holder of Reliability. To her son's utter embarrassment, Cody's mother had asked Ken to walk him home afterwards – she was afraid of muggers or something like that – and as Ken passed Cody's apartment building on the way to the train station, he had agreed and promised Cody he wouldn't tell anybody.

"I have this friend…" Cody started, "It's not me. Really. And this isn't meant to be something bad about him, not at all, but I feel that I have to do something about it, even if…" he added, stumbling over his words in stress. Ken nodded in understanding and urged him on – Cody wasn't sure if he knew exactly why he felt so bad about it, or if he was guessing. "Well, this friend is in love with somebody."

"Is there a problem with this?" Ken asked, knowing the same moment as the words left his mouth that the question was completely ridiculous, even though Cody didn't seem to notice.

"You see, he says that doesn't think this other person feels the same way." Cody explained, "But he doesn't know for sure, and it keeps bothering him that there may just be a chance for the other person to like him back. I'm not sure he has realized it, but he keeps on talking about it all the time. " Ken nodded again, "Anyway, the problem is kinda that he can't move on. He refuses to do anything about this, yet he can't get it off his mind."

Ken nodded one last time, and they kept on walking in silence.

"I think I know how you're feeling." He said at last, looking at Cody, "I have a friend who is pretty much the same. He has a crush on a person, but also very convinced this other person is in love with somebody else and can never like him. But my friend keeps insisting that once he figures out how, he'll just get rid of it. I don't know where he got that ridiculous idea from." It was Cody who nodded in understanding this time.

"I mean, it's not like I don't care about him or want to help him, but I will go insane if I ever hear…"

"_'…but he likes…'_" Ken said with an uncharacteristic sarcasm.

"_Kari_!" Cody ended in the same tone.

"Ever again!" they concluded at once, and abruptly came to a halt outside a pet shop.


	2. Of Matchmakers, Blind Dates, and Homewor...

**Part 2: Of matchmakers, blind dates, and homework**

_In which plans are made and Kari is haunted by the past_

"Okay, here's the plan."

Davis looked up Yolei as she hurriedly talked to him in hushed tones, trying to get the message passed to him before TK reached the table where the younger Digidestine clan had lunch.

"What plan?"

"The plan 'Helping You Get Over TK', stupid!" she hissed, and he quickly closed his mouth and let her talk, "It goes like this. I know this guy…"  
"Oh no. Oh no no no no. I am _not_ seeing some other guy." Davis replied, scooting away from her, but she reached out and seized the sleeve of his bright green jacked, giving it a tug just hard enough for a seam to burst somewhere. She wasn't particularly keen on getting her plans rejected before she'd finished planning them, and especially not by Davis. He did, after all, need all the help she could give him. And of course, he was _Davis_, and had the privilege of having to obey her no matter what because they rarely were willing to negotiate, and certainly not with each other.

"Do you want to get over him or not?!" It was more a threat than a question. Unfortunately, she conveniently also ignored the fact that Davis, much like her, rarely considered intimidations anything worth bothering with, and he replied in an equally annoyed tone.

"It's embarrassing enough that I happen to like _one_ other person of the same sex, but I'm not going to…"  
"Yes you are!"

"He is what?"

The two of them broke away from what had become very harsh and rather eligible whispering to look up at the blonde boy who was standing beside them.

"He's going to go out this other person I know who likes him _a lot_, right?"

"No, I am _not_…"

"By the way, TK, do you know who Davis fanc…"

Yolei hit the floor in a rather uncomfortable angle as Davis threw his body in her direction and clasped a hand over her mouth with just enough force to throw them both down from their seats. TK was staring at them.

"Do I really want to know?" he asked tentatively.

"No!"  
"Yes!"

"Kari!" Not a reply, but a desperate cry for help. She congratulated him on that, and reminded herself to give him a good pounding for it. Explaining the situation to Kari would probably lead to her guessing what Yolei was doing, and although they both had the same ulterior goal, the bespectacled girl had a feeling her DNA digivolve partner would _not_ agree in her methods.

Probably sensing that violence was about to ensue (he seemed to have a knack about that), the object of their argument reached out to help them up from the floor with a somewhat uneasy smile.

"I'm sure it's not very important." He said, and Davis smile gratefully at him and proceed to push Yolei roughly down to the floor again as he got up himself.

"I think it is." Yolei muttered grudgingly, swearing under her breath when she discovered that she had landed on the gum somebody had spit there a few minutes earlier. Davis glared at her, but broke away quickly to wave a hand franticly in the air.

"Hey Kari!" he yelled, "Come sit with me!"

Why, Yolei had no idea, but he sounded just like he would have four years earlier. Acted like it, too. It was creepy seeing that expression on his face again.

"Come on Kari!" he said with an eager smile, far too eager for it to be sincere, and she started walking again, carefully seating herself between Davis and TK and giving the former a tentative glance long enough to miss out on the annoyance that pass over the other's features. Yolei did not.

So TK had feelings for Davis. Or Kari, but there was nothing wrong with assuming the preferred option, so until the opposite was confirmed, he had feelings for Davis, and it was her rightful duty to make sure he didn't waste it on stupid things like denial or Kari. Which he unfortunately was busy doing at the very moment.

"So Kari, you doing anything tonight?" he asked with a smile slightly too wide to be reassuring and seemingly oblivious to Davis and the fact that he opened his mouth at the exact time.

"Err… homework, I guess…"

"Great! I haven't done my math for tomorrow, so if you'd like you could come over and we could help each other."

"Hey TK, I'll come over and help you!" she offered before Kari had the chance to reply and Davis had the chance to interrupt, and understood that this hadn't been the best of ideas when all three of them stared at her.

"Yolei, you're not even in our grade…"

Oops.

"Oh but I need to refresh my math a bit, you know…"

"You have an A in math."

"I do? I didn't remember that! Oh well, there will always be room for improvement I say…"

"Well, if you're going with him, then Kari can help me!"

"Actually, I'm done with my math."

"Really?!"

"Man Kari, you're just so great! I love smart girls!"

That was the point when Kari shoot up from her seat and fled the room, dragging Davis along.

"What are you doing?!"

"He's hitting on you! And…"

"No, he wasn't, and what?!"

"Picture what's the worst thing: Being with you, or watching him being with you." He didn't sound as annoyed as he sounded whiny.

"Picture this: Neither – would – have – a - chance!" she sneered back. The sudden reoccurrence of Davis' crush had triggered the old annoyance over it to return as well, and she had no desire of making any big commotion about this. "So back off! Firstly, I wouldn't go with you knowing you really wanted him,"

It was strange, she briefly thought, how he probably was twice as strong as her and still let her pin him against the wall like that. She knew he wasn't a gentleman of any sort; after all, he and Yolei had been in enough scuffles for that to be a firmly established fact. It probably did have something with the crush he'd had on her when they were children; he may be over her, but some of the old affection still lingered in him. She didn't doubt that he'd have yelled at Yolei and pushed her off long ago.

"I don't want to want him!"

"And secondly, I wouldn't go with him for the exact same reason. And not to mention that I like – " she stopped herself at that, and instead stepped back. He didn't seem to be feel much better just because he was allowed to stand on his own.

"But…"

"I am not going to date either of you."

"That still doesn't keep him from hitting on you…" was he sulking?

"So why does it bother you that he is making passes on me when he doesn't have a chance and you don't want to be with him anyway?" It would have been a very stupid and obvious question with everybody else but Davis, and even with him most of the time, but the way he had handled this whole situation had been anything but intelligent. It had been a while since the last time she'd had to point out the things he didn't want to see himself to him.

The question hit the nerve she had predicted it to; he pulled his eyes back and looked at his shoes instead.

"Because… I don't want him to."

"And why is that?"

Shrug. She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it.

"So don't do it again."

"'Kay."

Not seeing any need for any further discussion, she entered the canteen again.

"So Yolei, you're free tonight?" she asked and kicked the other girl's leg under the table as they sat down.

"Oh, yeah, sure I am!"

"But you just told me you had this essay due to tomorrow…" TK said, but the reply was an extensive eye roll.

"Don't bother yourself with such things as that. I think you should just… you know, enjoy life, smell the roses, and be with the ones you love…" Then came loud whimper, a string of curses, and a glare at Davis who looked about ready to murder her.

-----

"So we know that TK likes Davis, and that Davis likes TK, and that they both think the other one wants Kari."

"And we're both sick of having to hear them complain about such matters."

"Complaining which would stop if the two of them just could get over it and get together."

Exchange of glances.

"And how does that happen?" Cody asked and arched an eyebrow in a way that clearly stated that he did _not_ want to do what he thought Ken wanted him to do. Cooperation, it seemed, would probably take more than he had predicted at first. Ken and Cody _did_ have many things in common, and although not the best of friends, they got along well enough, but this particular problem would require Cody to trust Ken just a bit more than the younger boy probably wanted to. Scheming with one of your closest friends' love life was just the kind of thing the boy never would do unless it was a matter of life and death; and how somebody's life could depend on whether or not he schemed with his friend's love life was hard to imagine.

This was where the fact that they weren't closer friends became a problem. Ken needed Cody to accept his plan, and that would take more than nice words and promises, because he saw through things like that. If Ken wanted his help to this, he'd have to be able to flash a safe way of solving the problem that didn't hurt anybody, didn't involve too much tampering with sensitive issues, and preferably also kept their part in it hidden.

He started speaking, wording himself carefully.

"I don't like to mess with other people's private life much more than you do. But in this case, I simply can't stand on the sideline not doing anything. I don't know how bad this is for TK, but Davis really needs to face a thing or two about this, and I can't see any better way of doing it."

The only reply was a still accusative look. "And the two of them _would_ be happy together, don't you think?" he said. Cody was still silent, but moved his eyes to Wormmon and Armadillomon, who were walking in front of them, discussing what was best of chocolate and peppermint candies. Armadillomon seemed to be winning, as he kept repeating that if Wormmon _did_ like chocolate as well there was nothing left to discuss.

"Do you think Yolei knows something?" he said instead, in what Ken only could judge as a subtle hint that he wanted more time to contemplate this.

"Why should she?"

"She really wanted Davis and TK to go together today, even if they're not DNA digivolve partners. And neither are you and me. It doesn't make much sense."

"You're right." Ken said thoughtfully, frowning slightly. If Yolei had some sort of part in the play, they'd have to get her on their side relatively fast to keep her from messing it up even more.

"But then again, she tried to get me and you to get along better ever since I first joined up with you. And she wouldn't know unless one of them told her, which I honestly doubt." Cody said.

"That's true." Ken agreed as he decided to forget about her for now, "TK would go to Kari, and Davis wouldn't tell something like that to Yolei. She's probably just trying to hit two birds with one stone. Or something like that."

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Cody started talking again.

"So how do you suggest we're playing matchmakers for Davis and TK?"

He ignored the less than flattering term and praised all heavenly forces he could come up with for letting Cody accept his plans. Not letting any of this show, he carefully started explaining to the younger boy.

-----

"From what I understood, he was making passes on me to hide that he was jealous."

"Jealous of who? You or him?" Yolei asked without looking up from the younger girl's math books.

"Who do you think? He's in love with _TK_, you know."

Yolei nodded and quickly wrote down the equations, only pausing once in a while to underline the answers, and Kari leaned against the wall as she looked at her, petting Gatomon who was curled up in her lap.

"That's impressive. Not even I was ever that desperate."

"You never bothered hiding it when you like somebody either." Kari noted dryly, "And you still don't."

"Unlike _certain_ others."

"Anyway, I got it pretty much covered that no matter how absurd it is, TK likes Davis too." Kari said, deciding this was a great time to change topic.

"And how would you know that?" Yolei questioned and gnawed on the pencil.

"I sit beside him in all classes we share, remember? And I'm pretty sure that somebody who first spends ten minutes doodling someone else's name all over their history notes and then ten minutes more franticly covering it up with whiteout has it bad."

"Blind date." Yolei said instead of replying, "I was trying to talk Davis into it when TK interrupted us at lunch."

Kari stared at her friend in mild disbelief.

"You did something without talking to me about it?"

Yolei finally looked up from the algebra problems to roll her eyes.

"Kari, I'm the holder of love, not to mention a year older than you and much more experienced in the matters of love, so I suggest you just sit back and let _me_ take care of this, and just… er… " she faltered at the younger girl's stare "Come with you superior orders when it suits you."

"He's my best friend." Kari deadpanned.

"And Davis is…." She stopped and seemed to be trying to come up with something to say before looking down dejectedly, "Okay. You're the boss."

"No, I'm not." The brunette said softly, looking away. Yolei blinked.

"Huh?"

Kari's made the mistake of letting her eyes meet up with Yolei's again, and she suddenly found herself panicking about what she'd just said. Trying to calm herself down, she succeeded halfway, succeeding as far as starting to explain and failing enough to babble about things she was pretty sure she shouldn't be babbling about.

"I would never be able to do something like that on my own. Fact is, Yolei, I need you, too. I could never bring myself to mess with their lives this way by myself, but when you're here, I just…"

"Kari!" Both girls jerked up as the door was forcefully thrown open and revealed an enraged Tai glaring at his sister. "Did you wash this?!" He didn't wait for a reply before he threw the white soccer shirt in his sister's face.

"I may have…" she said slowly, picking it down from her head and gave him a puzzled look. With some luck, this would be distraction enough to get Yolei of the track she'd accidentally gotten into.

"You _washed_ my authentically faked Manchester United shirt signed by David Beckham?! You _washed_ it?!"

"Err… Tai, look…" she twisted the garment in her hands, and held it up to him, showing off a slightly faded twirl of black ink, "It's not gone."

Her brother snatched it from her hands and inspected it closer, and glared at her again.

"If you as much as _touch_ it again, I swear I will…" He stiffened when their mother called his name from the bathroom. "I was never here!" he yelped and fled the room, leaving both girls staring at the spot he'd been standing at until the apartment door slammed loudly 1.2 seconds later, and their mother once again cried his name, this time in aggravation.

"So…" Yolei turned to Kari, who looked wearily at her, "Blind date?"

"Isn't that sort of… silly?"

"Well, we _could_ just walk up and tell them to date each other and get it over with." Yolei suggested dryly.

Kari did not appreciate the sarcasm, but only nodded tiredly and kept on stroking the sleeping Digimon lying on top of her.

"I guess… it's better than nothing."


	3. Of Threats, Lies, and Big Brothers

**Part 3: Of threats, lies, and big brothers**

_In which the matchmakers takes some action, and Tai and Matt decide to help their younger counterparts finding love._

"…So I said to him: '_Well I bet you ten bucks I can take you out_', and he said '_Oh yeah?!_' and then I beat him like nothing, and then he wouldn't give me the money, so… are you listening?"

"No."

"Oh, okay. Anyway, so when he wouldn't give me the money I told Matt to get him 'cause my knuckles really hurt, and then he said '_You have to make your boyfriend get me, Kamiya?_' and then both me and Matt hit him, because that's just so totally crap, I mean, can you imagine me and Matt being gay? I sure cannot, it's just, you know, all weird and stuff, and… hey, there's him and TK! Hiya Matt!"

"Mmm…"

"I don't think he heard me… oh well, anyway, I mean, Matt and me? That's just completely absurd, heh heh heh, I mean, how could he get that idea, it's not like we…. You're seriously not listening?"

"No…"

"Davis?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you pining for TK?"

"Yeah…"

"No? Seriously?"

"Yeah… what?! NO!"

Tai stared doubtfully at Davis.

"For some reason I didn't believe you until you said no."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"You're in love with TK?!"

For the second time in his life, Davis actually glared at Tai.

"It's not like I want to, okay?! So just leave it, because that's what I plan to do!"

"Seriously? TK?!"

-----

On the other side of the street, two blonde boys were walking together, the older one occasionally taking a sip from a can of soda in his hand.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he said at last. His brother wasn't usually wasn't this quiet when he wanted advice about something. Not that Matt really expected it to be anything life threatening, but this hesitancy was slightly unsettling. He didn't really have time to consider that much more, because TK didn't need any more coaxing.

"If you tell this to anybody, and I mean _anybody_, Dad will know what you and Tai did on his bed last Wednesday." He said, pinning his brother with an intimidating glare that would've helped so very much more if he weren't busy looking embarrassed about it. Ah, the poor kid had so much to learn about the facts of brotherhood.

"Like Mum will know what you were doing on the couch when I ran in on you last spring if the words ever reaches him?" he replied nonchalantly and stuck his hand in his pocket to gain an even more laid back pose to show that the threat didn't bother him one bit, but for once his younger brother didn't seem to think himself inferior of him.

"Matt, 90 of all boys do that, and the last 10 are lying. And at least I didn't do it with my _boyfriend_ on her bed."

"First off, you don't even have a boyfriend, and second, he's not my boyfriend, we…"

"It's hardly like I did anything you haven't done before, but running in on the two of you disturbed me enough to have shit on you for at least ten years more. It's just my brotherly love that keeps me from telling him and make him castrate you both so I don't have to risk it happening again."

Blue eyes glared at each other in a silent duel, and at last the taller one looked away in defeat.

"So what is the problem?" he asked sharply, not happy with having to obey to his little brother. True enough, they hadn't spent too much time growing up together, but he was pretty sure that this wasn't how brotherhood was meant to work.

"I am head over heels for Davis."

Pepsi, he discovered, definitely didn't feel good when coming up through his nose.

"Davis?!"

"Davis." He kept on walking without waiting for Matt to catch up with him, which he eventually did half a minute later.

"Davis?" he asked again, this time looking more like his usual suave self.

"Davis." His brother confirmed yet again, "I can never have him, I don't think I'd ever be able to have a relationship of that kind with him anyway, I don't even want to consider the idea, and he's on my mind twenty-four-seven." TK said with no emotion, still not looking at anything but the pavement in front of them.

"TK…" he started with a concerned frown, but was interrupted when his brother decided it was time to break down.

"Oh Matt, what am I going to do?!" he nearly wailed, causing his brother to flinch and various people around them to look interested in their direction, "I love him so much, and I don't even _want_ to!"

"Um…" Matt quickly looked around in the busy street, and then back down at the case of Desperate Little Brother clinging to his arm, "Well…"

TK didn't give him time to say anything more, once again sobering up.

"No, don't tell me to tell him, because I know perfectly well that he doesn't feel the same way, and no, I will never sink down to your level and start screwing my best friend in lack of anything better, but I have to do _something_ about it, and you have to _help_ me!"

Matt found himself wondering about exactly how long TK could talk without breathing.

"Um…" he tried again, "You could start with not screaming it out for half of Tokyo to hear, maybe?"

-----

"…I mean, it's not like I _like_ him or anything like that!"

Davis failed to notice how Ken was slowly clenching and unclenching his left fist.

"We've been over this before, and I thought we decided that you _do_." The skinny boy said, barely restraining himself from yelling loudly. Ken wasn't the kind of person who yelled unless it was strictly necessary, but three hours straight of Davis repeating the mantra of 'he wasn't gay just because he had a crush on TK because it wasn't like he _wanted_ to so he wasn't gay and what should he do because he really wanted to see him no get rid of this because he _so_ wasn't gay or bi or whatever' was becoming more than a little tiring. Frankly, Ken was pretty sure that even Joe would have blown up on him long ago, particularly with the pathetically whiny tone his voice took when he was complaining over something just to complain.

"Yeah well, but it's not like I _want_ to like him and it doesn't really count then, does it?"

Ken gritted his teeth as he hit the save button and closed the program.

"Why don't you just see somebody else?" he asked instead.

"Because I wanna be with _him_!" Davis said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, and his eyes widened, "No, I mean I don't, I mean I…"

Ken interrupted, realizing that his best friend was about to start the routine over again. "Look, there's a girl in my school who'd seen us together once and just got this huge crush on you. I can fix a date with her if you want me to. I mean, I don't know her that well but she is rather cute…" he shrugged and gave his friend a curious but not too interested look while he desperately begged any heavenly forces to make Davis agree.

"Huh? A girl?"

No sarcasm, for the love of God don't say it don't say it don't say it… 

"Yeah. Blonde, kinda tall and slim…" he said, shrugging again, "She's really interested."

Davis seemed to consider it for a while, thoughtfully looking at Ken's bookcase.

"She's nice?" he asked at last.

"Really nice, at least I think so. And I mean, it's just a date, it's not like you'll have to stick to her if you don't like her or something like that…"

"But I thought nobody in your school had ever been speaking to you…" Davis said confused.

"She's new." _It's for a good purpose…_ Even Cody understood that kind of thing. He hoped. He just didn't have anything better to answer if the boy asked.

"Oh. So she's really nice and not weird and pretty?"

"Yes."

He realized that the chance for Davis killing him just for lying to him would still be present even if he _did_ get it on with TK. Oh yes. First he'd kill him for lying and then for messing with his private business. And if the plan failed, also for ruining his friendship with TK.

And then he recalled the night a week ago, when Davis had spent five hours whining about his lousy love life, and he decided it was worth the risk if it meant he could avoid something like that happening again.

-----

"Tai? Where are you?"

"In our room! Don't come in here!"

"What? What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" he shrieked while rolling of the bed and zipping up his pants before bolting over to the other side of the room, "I'm changing! Don't come in here!"

"Alright, dear, but remember to clean up the mess in the bathroom." His mother said, and the boy sighed loudly in relief as he leaned back against the door and slowly slid down to the floor.

"That," Matt said as he pulled up his pants, "Was too damn close. Do you have any hair gel?"

"Me?"

His companion rolled his eyes and went back to trying to fix his disheveled hair while looking at his reflection in the window. "Kari? Your mother? How can _anybody_ live in a house without styling products? And didn't you say the house was empty for at least three hours?"

"She _said_ she would be staying out all night." He huffed and buttoned up his shirt to get it on the right way. "So what do we do now?" he asked, still sitting with his back leaning against the door. Matt shrugged.

"Dad's at home as well, and…" he stiffened slightly and finally turned away from the window, "Hey, would you have guessed TK's gay?"

"Huh? TK?" Tai didn't really seem too interested.

"Yeah. Said he likes Davis." Matt said, slumping down on the bottom bunk of the bed again, "And he wanted me to help him. But seriously, what do I do? I mean, he's straight to mention one thing…"

"Man."

The blonde lifted his head to look at his best friend, who looked… well, not really surprised, but somewhere between that and confused.

"What?" he asked, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows in a faint hope to read that look better.

"Davis likes him, too, I think. He was all zoned out when I was talking to him, and then I asked if he liked TK as a joke, and he said yes, and when I asked again he said yes again, and then he didn't want to talk about it… isn't that weird?" Matt more or less lost track after that point. "TK and Davis… who'd seen _that_ coming? I always thought at least one of them would get together with Kari sooner or later, and…"

"Davis likes TK?"

"Yeah." Tai nodded, still too zoned out to notice what Matt was pretty sure was a very pathetic look on his face. "And I thought that at least _he_ was straight, but then again he hangs out with Ken, and he's not exactly of the…"

"No? You're not kidding me?"

"No, I'm not! I'm serious, he _does_! What's wrong?" Tai finally seemed to notice the more than a little horrified look on his not-boyfriend's face.

"Davis." Matt whimpered and let his face drop into his hands, "If he likes Davis and Davis likes him, they may get together and really fall in love and never break up and get married or whatnot and I will be related to Davis and..:" his eyes widened more, and he buried his head in Kari's pillow, "I'll be related to _Jun_…"

"Because her brother will be dating your brother?" Tai sounded confused, "I thought she left you alone after you started seeing Sora, anyway."

"Yeah, but it's not like I do that anymore, is it? And she's _scary_! Who knows what kind of ideas it may set in her head…"

"Incest?"

He blinked, and raised his head to look at the other boy. "Incest? Incest how?"

Tai shrugged. "If TK and Davis got married the two of you would practically be family, and that would be icky."

"If TK and Kari got married one could say just the same about me and you." Matt pointed out, but Tai rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's not like that'll happen anytime soon considering your brother seems to prefer other little boys, and I thought we agreed that there wasn't a 'me and you'."

"We did, and I meant it theoretically."

"She doesn't know that. And she isn't among the smarter ones around, she's _Davis'_ sister. If worst happens you just tell her that it would be like dating your own sister and she'll probably leave you alone."

Matt stared blankly into the wall in front of him, his brain going at top speed. "That can work." He said at last, and abruptly sat up in the bed, "It may _work_! If Davis and TK starts dating there's no way she can date me!"

"I said so all the time." Tai said, idly picking on some lint on the carpet.

"Yes!" Matt said, "It can and it _will_ work! If her brother and my brother hooks up there is no way in hell she can come after me ever again!"

"Actually…" Tai started, but was interrupted.

"Do you have any idea about how I suffered?!" Matt asked.

"It was kinda hard _not_ to considering the way you could go on and on about it for hours." The brunette replied.

"Tai, these last years has been the best ones in my life. You have no _idea_…"

"Yes I do. And it's been three years. Shouldn't you start getting over her? She hasn't even talked to you since last year sometime as far as I'm concerned."

"To be on the _safe_ side, at least." Matt whined, "Please? Help me?"

Tai shrugged without really seeming to consider it.  
"Why not? It may be fun."

-----

"TK, I think you need to get your mind of Davis."

"No, _really_?"

Cody ignored the sarcasm and continued without showing his annoyance.

"So I think you should date somebody else."

"Like who?" The blonde muttered from his seat in the other end of Cody's bed. The younger boy had asked him over with the excuse of needing help with his math homework and that Yolei wasn't at home, and it had taken him exactly thirteen minutes and forty-five seconds to get the conversation over to the trail of 'Davis'.

"Like somebody I know."

"Who?"

"You'll like him." Cody said simply, "And if you don't go, I will tell your mother just what kind of magazine you are selling your stories to."  
"They pay good!" TK replied, but not without blushing badly.

"And they think you're 35." Cody added, "I don't think she'll be happy about it."

TK slumped back, almost killing Upamon who had been napping behind him in the process.

"There's nothing wrong with Playboy." He muttered, "If I was straight, I'd even read it…" Cody gave him a dirty look, but the older boy only rolled his eyes. "And many professional writers start with selling their stuff to magazines!"

"But porn?"

"It's erotica! It's totally different!"

"It's filthy." Cody muttered, "I will still tell her unless you go. And you won't regret it."

"If it is so, why do you have to threaten me to meet him?"

"Because you're stubborn." Cody said matter-of-factly, "And I'm tired of hearing you talk about Davis all the time."

TK looked away dejectedly.

"And there is absolutely nothing I can bribe you with?"

Cody did not appreciate the joke.


	4. Of adversaries, dinner dates, and blackm...

**Part 4: Of adversaries, dinner dates, and blackmailing**

_In which dates are set and Jun sells her brother's secrets for a naked picture of Sora_

"So what do we do?"

"Well… do you think you could convince TK to going out with some unknown girl?"

"Very much doubt that, because he actually told me he prefer boys."

"Unknown guy, then?"

"Uh-huh. He also told me that there is this person he likes."

"Since when did he tell you this, and why didn't you just tell Davis that he doesn't like you?"

"Yesterday. He pretended it was nothing, but I think he worried about me having some sort of feelings for him."

Nearly a week had passed, and Kari and Yolei (mostly Yolei) had decided that the situation at hand demanded action, and that talking either of the boys into going out with each other was useless.

Yolei, true to her crest and character (and a large bookshelf worth of shoujo manga) was gleefully planning it out, and Kari was being more reserved about messing with other people's life, but followed her in her eager plotting, trying to keep hold of the situation if the purple-haired girl should come up with something too stupid. She had given up on stopping Yolei from interfering with Davis' love life soon after realizing just what she was doing, and had settled with trying to keep the damage at a minimum.

They were currently walking home from school together (having had some problems with ditching TK), and Yolei seemed determined to get something _done_ with it as soon as possible, not just talk about it. This didn't quite match Kari's plans about talking TK into confessing, but it did probably have a higher success rate.

"Well, " Yolei said, "Davis will at least go willingly, because he knows I'll tell TK if he doesn't."

Kari frowned. "Isn't that kind of a contradiction? If you're threatening him with telling TK if he doesn't go out with him?"

"He doesn't know that." Yolei shrugged, "So the only thing that's left is just to come up with place and time, and get TK to go, too. Do you have anything you can blackmail him with?"

"Actually, I think I can talk him into going without having to threaten him." Kari said, raising an eyebrow at the disappointed look on Yolei's face. "What?"

"Blackmail is much more fun!" she whined.

"Fun?"

Yolei's pout only grew deeper. "Why do you think I'm doing this, anyway? Helping Davis out?"

Holding back the obvious "yes", Kari only sighed. "I'll talk to him, okay?"

"But didn't you say that he wouldn't…"

"I never said he wouldn't do me a favor."

-----

"Hey, Jun…"

"I'm sorry, Davis isn't home."

"Actually, I know that. I need a favor of you."

She blinked in surprise, but leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. It suddenly occurred to Tai how strange it was to actually have a conversation with Jun that didn't revolve around Matt some way or the other, but then again, he'd hardly exchanged a word with her since the end of the last battle except asking for Davis.

"It's about my brother, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. See, I need him to do something, but if he won't cooperate…"

"You have to blackmail him?"

He confirmed that, and she seemed to contemplate for a few seconds, and then told him to wait. He swiftly looked behind the door and flashed a victory sign at Matt's sweaty scowl. The only reply was a growl, and he hurried to get back in place when he heard her footsteps approaching once again.

"I want something in return." The redhaired girl said, and lifted her hand, "Your wallet, please."

Tai rolled his eyes, but obediently dug his hand into his back pocket and handed it to her.

"I should warn you, I'm as poor as a…"

"Oh, that's not it." She said as she opened it. His eyes widened as she dug out the picture as if she'd done it a thousand times before, and smiled in satisfaction as she inspected it and handed the wallet back to him, along with a brown envelope. "I want them back again when you're done, and if my brother somehow discovers where you got them, _she'll_ know where I got this, and where _you_ got it in the first place. Deal?"

Instead of replying he stared at her for at least a minute before remembering how to talk.

"How… how in the hell do you know about that?" he asked at last, pointing to the snapshot. Jun smiled sweetly at him.

"All of Davis' friends do… well, Ken and TK, and that little kid, Cody… and Yolei, too. All I had to do was ask him, and I've always wanted to see it myself…" she grinned.

Suddenly not so confident in this anymore, he swallowed, and shook her hand.

"Deal."

When the door slammed shut after them he was left facing a confused Matt.

"What was that about?" he asked. Tai looked guiltily up at him.

"You know that picture you stole from Sora?"

"Which one?"

"The one where she's, you know, nude…"

"How the hell did she know about that?!" he all but shrieked.

"You heard her!" Tai snapped back, opening the envelope as they walked down the hallway.

"Why did you _tell_ Davis? And TK?" Matt continued, obviously not done with him yet.

"I didn't think it'd matter!" he said, holding the envelope up between them in an unwilling reflex to defend himself. Matt scowled more, and snatched it out of his hands and opened it when they reached the elevator. He glanced briefly at the content, and then shoved the pictures back in again and handed it back to Tai.

"I can't believe _Jun_ has blackmail material on me now, too."

"Hey, _you_ were the one insisting on doing this, and…"  
"There's nothing wrong with making sure something like that never happens again, and I thought this'd be to _your_ gain as well."

"_You're_ the one with girl troubles, not me!"

Matt opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to rethink his argument, and instead glared pointedly at him and dragged him out the door. The two walked side by side down the pavement in the direction of Tai's apartment building, neither really speaking.

"And just how do we explain these to him without blaming her?"

"…Damn bitch."

-----

Davis was relieved that Ken was setting him up with a girl. Even though the idea of going on a blind date was rather unsettling even for him, at least it was better than going on a blind date with some boy he didn't know purely out of Yolei's insistence. He had really no idea about why she was so set on the idea anyway - if he had expected anything from her, that would have been forcing him to tell TK himself about the very stupid and unimportant thing that was his so-called crush on him. Knowing her, she'd probably expect him to _return_ those feelings too, and it wasn't like Davis would want _that_, because… this was about the point where his mind stalled every time he tried to pass it: One part wanted to reassure himself that having a crush on a guy and TK in particular was just crap he should forget about because… he was… confused. Yeah, confused. And the other part wanted lapse into memories of a half-forgotten dream that his imagination had build more to without his will, and it annoyed him even more because nothing at all had happened except… except… _stuff_… and… it had just been stupid and romantic, and so disturbingly similar to those daydreams he had used to dwell in back when he was in love with Kari and everything was okay and the world was normal.

The thought of actually having a non-platonic relationship with TK scared him, and he tried his best to find the way his mind seemed to love the idea of such annoying. He didn't _want_ to want to kiss TK. But he did, no matter how unwanted it was, and if it hadn't been for the fact that this was a question about pride and not about the heart, maybe he'd let his mind drift off on its own accord to dwell on slender, blonde boys without forcing himself to be aggravated about it.

"I know what your problem is." Tai said and nodded to himself. "You need to get laid."

"'Get laid'?" he parroted back and kicked the soccer ball so it hit the wall.

"Get laid." Tai confirmed and caught it with his knee, before he let it drop to the ground and kicked it, making another dusty mark on the building.

"How will that help me?"

"It always helps." The older boy said cryptically.

"So you do it, too?"

"I know just the right person for you."

This was the point where most people in Davis' position most likely would've gotten suspicious. Tai had never been famous for his skills at making plans, and two of Davis' other friends had already offered/threatened to set him up with currently unknown persons with vague explanations about why. But unfortunately, Davis had an unhealthy admiration of Tai and had never been among the brightest people around, so his mind only found it a pit peculiar and shrugged it off. Sex might not be on the top of his list of priorities, but if it helped get over people he didn't want to have things for in the first place, he certainly wasn't going to ditch the idea either.

Yes, Davis was relieved that Ken was setting him up with a girl, because being with a boy like Yolei seemed to think that he should would involve so a lot more soul-searching, possible worrying and his mother having a fit of some sort. It was unsettling that Ken seemed to think this as important enough to _force_ him into, but Ken was smart. Yeah. Ken tended to know what was best, and when Tai said the same thing - and Tai was a great leader, after all…

"But I'm already going to meet this girl Ken has…"

The sound of glass shattering was heard, quickly followed by that of sneakers against pavement.

-----

"Yolei?"

"What?"

"What are you and Kari planning on doing with TK and Davis?"

She looked down at the pink Digimon who was calmly looking up at her from the basket on the floor. Poromon had been present during most of her planning sessions with Kari, and she supposed it was just to be expected that he was curious; but how much he had understood was probably a different matter. She was slightly tempted to tell him not to mind, but decided against it; after all, Hawkmon wasn't stupid, and it was possible he'd have some advice for her. "You remember how I told you that they seem to be in love with each other?"

"I know _that_!" Poromon said, "I mean, _what_ are you planning to do?"

She narrowed her eyes. Her partner rarely bothered with her love life, and had no better reason to be involved with anybody else's. "Why do you want to know?"

If Poromon, with his body, could shrug, he was doing it now. "Well, Veemon and I have this bet about it. I think Davis will be with TK, and he thinks Davis will be with Ken."

"Ken?" she exclaimed, her twice as loud as she had meant for it to be, "Veemon thinks he'll get it on with _Ken_?"

Poromon started batting his tiny wings up and down, and managed to get into the air to get at her level, "_I_ don't, and neither does Gatomon or Patamon, because they both think… well, Patamon thinks, that Davis will be with TK."

"Do you guys care about who we are dating?"

Poromon blinked. "Well, not to say I don't find it a bit silly, but human mating is rather entertaining. Gatomon says so, and she watches a lot of TV."

A short battle about whether the most interesting point was their Digimon's newly recovered interest in their love affairs or the fact that they seemed to have confident opinions about the matter ended with the last option winning out.

"Well, we'll be trying to set them up – you know, they won't admit that they like each other, so I and Kari have to do something about it." She said, "And why does Veemon think Davis will be with Ken?"

"I wouldn't know! I only know that he's the only one who seems to think so. If I were you," he said, in a voice that she usually only heard from his rookie form, "I would worry more about the fact that Wormmon seems to find all speculations about Ken's love life ridiculous."

Yolei didn't worry about that. To her concern, Ken's non-existent love life was just something she would have to fix once she got the opportunity, and it would be a catastrophe if Davis got it before her. Which only was another reason to make sure he ended up with TK instead.

"Why do you think Davis will be with TK and not Ken?"

Poromon opened his eyes and blinked drowsily at her, before doing that strange shrugging motion again. "Because you seem to think so."

"And…?"

"You usually get things your way."

She wasn't sure whether to take it as a compliment or not.

-----

Some things in life were easy - things like writing. He had always liked to read, and the writing part a natural continuation of that. It fell him naturally to express himself through the written word – and contrary to what Cody seemed to think, he did _not_ spend all this time writing smut. He wrote other things as well. Snippets and scenes from stories that were only half-shaped in his mind, sometimes short stories, hell, he even had a few poems lurking somewhere on his harddrive. To him, writing was a way to relax, a hobby, it was just plain _fun_.

The fact that certain magazines paid well for some of his works didn't hurt, either. The way Cody looked at him every time he caught him with Word open was not a nice one, but if nothing else, the younger boy's distaste for that sort of literature was strongly connected to the reason for this, which again was connected to another important part of Cody's personality: Loyalty. He might dislike it, but he wouldn't tell anybody else because to Cody, there was no reason to.

Yes, writing was one of the easy things in his life, as were things like playing basketball and keeping his brother wrapped around his finger.

However, there were things that were far more complicated - such as the matter of love.

TK was willing to admit that he might have had a somewhat naïve outlook on such before. Strange as it was, his parent's divorce had never killed his childish belief in that he'd find a girl to marry and love for the rest of his life. When he grew older, he had been pretty sure that that girl was Kari, and he'd settled with that, not really paying any much attention to it because her lack of interest in Davis' constant advances on her made it clear that the other boy was no major threat. All over, he'd been pretty confident in that as time passed he'd ask her out or something and she would agree. Why not? After all, they were great friends (best friends!), they were completely at the same wavelength, they had so much in common and they got so well along. Love and marriage had seemed like the natural continuation of such closeness, and he had decided that she was The One

Yes. It had been a good plan. And then came the day when he caught himself checking out another boy when they were showering after practice.

It would be a lie to say that he'd been greatly upset. It changed those plans involving Kari, and it was due to become an awkward confession for his friends and family eventually, but he had accepted that part of himself relatively easily and kept on living his life without dwelling too much on the fact.

The _problem_ surfaced the day he realized that he most likely had fallen in love with the very boy he once had fought with over the girl he once had appointed as Love of His Life.

To call Davis and TK enemies would be to exaggerate grossly, but calling them best friends would be stretching the truth longer than it probably should. They did, simply, have too many things in common that TK kept on doing better at than Davis and Davis found it necessary to be better than TK at, and it had caused a slight tension between them that never had went away. They got along okay, and there was a awkward sort of friendship, but never really anything more. TK was probably too close to Kari to ever really bother with getting that close to any of the new Digidestined, and Davis had Ken and got along fine with everybody else, and it had worked out without any problems until… well, until the matter of love got into the business.

There was a difference between a platonic friend and a friend that made you blush when he came too close, and it was one that TK had come to know far too well during the last months. His hormones refused to let him have a moment of peace, and he found himself helplessly pulled into a business he thought he'd leave for Yolei and Davis to bother with.

He had tried to tell Patamon first, but the Digimon only understood so much about human emotions, and he had only confused him while trying to explain the concept of being in love, and the difference of being in love with Kari and being in love with Davis. He had a feeling that he might've been more understanding if he'd been in his ultimate form, but he was somewhat nervous about pouring his heart out to Angemon. So when the Digimon settled with cuddling him every time he got onto the topic of their goggled leader, TK decided to spill his guts to someone who understood the mechanics of human relationships.

Kari had been his first choice, and dismissed almost immediately. He didn't doubt that she'd support him unconditionally in whatever he decided to do, but he had a strong suspicion that his own assuming about True Love might have rubbed off on her, and if she had some sort of feelings for him, he wouldn't want to hurt her unintentionally if there was a chance of her figuring out things on her own.

His brother was less likely to be loyal, and more likely to stand by his side no matter what, but there had always been a slight tension between Matt and Davis, and he hadn't wanted either of them to get into troubles with each other because of him.

And as most other of the older digidestined lived busy lives and most likely wouldn't be involved enough in his life to really care about his problems, it left pretty much his mother, Ken, Yolei and Cody.

The choice had been easy. His mother was out of the picture (he wanted to postpone any comments about grandchildren as long as possible), Ken was simply too close to Davis and Yolei, much as he loved her, was _not_ on the list of people he trusted to keep something secret.

But Cody had understood, and just as important, hadn't made any further comments about it. He'd simply listened, accepted, and been there for him. He'd never tried to make him change his mind about it.

Until now, that was.

He had a suspicion that the nature of his problem was of such a ridiculous manner that he might have been overdoing all his heartache. It wasn't like it was _killing_ him or anything, far from that, and what feelings he had certainly weren't deep enough to make him cry at night because 'Davis could never love him'(although the breakdown with is brother the previous week suggested that he might be nearing that point now). But it kept on nagging that stupid, gullible part of his mind that had wanted to believe in him and Kari about how he now should believe in him and Davis, and when you're not used to keeping your problems bottled up and there is only one person to vent on…

And he'd been doing it _a lot_, he realized now. More than he'd needed to, too. But it had been so good… finally being able to actually _talk_ about it to someone who could understand, and stay neutral. TK wasn't used to struggle with his problems alone, and having somebody to discuss it with had been an enormous relief. When he gave it a second thought, maybe it wasn't so strange that Cody finally seemed to be interfering. All and every conversation the two of them had had in private the last months seemed to have been centered about Davis in some way or the other.

He could have spared himself the threats, though.

It wasn't that bad, he supposed, although he wasn't going to start seeing someone while he was in love with someone else. He'd told Kari as much as he though she could handle about the situation after letting his brother know, and while she certainly hadn't seemed as heartbroken as he'd feared, she had visited him later and guilt tripped him into meeting this friend of hers that he never had met who was trying to sort out his feelings. It wasn't a thing he happily agreed to, but she had seemed genuinely worried and slightly hurt, and he'd agreed to do it.

So he was officially set up with two people and in love with a third who wanted his best friend.

Yes. The matter of love might be nice for those who believed in them, and although he did so himself, he couldn't help but wish that they had never, ever entered his life.

-----

"You know, it's not like you'll be winning anything on this yourself." Gatomon pointed out as Kari sat down by the computer to go through some of her old pictures. "She's after Ken, so the sensible thing to do…"

"Telling Davis to go with Ken instead?" Kari asked and glanced at the white Digimon, who was curled up on a stable of books beside her.

"Well," Gatomon drawled, "He'd do it, you know. From what you told me about it, he doesn't even have the slightest idea about how to deal with this, so if he can be with someone a bit more, ah, familiar to him, he'll probably do it. And with Ken out of the picture…"

"Gatomon, I don't think Ken is interested in Davis like that." She said, trying not to worry too much about it. The suggestion was unsettling because the Digimon usually tended to stay away from the "human business" and make them sort it out themselves, or at least the things that centered on the topic "love". But more worrisome was the fact that Gatomon was suggesting her to do something as selfish as to purposely make Davis be with the wrong person just for her own gain. While her partner was less naïve than most of the other Digimon, she had never shown any tendencies to such an egoistic nature.

"No, that can of course be a problem. But it's always worth the try, you know, and if it works out…"

"I couldn't do that to them." Kari cut her off, furiously clicking on the icon on the desktop to open her picture editor, "If Davis and TK really want to be with each other - and I am positively sure that they do - I wouldn't do anything to stop them from doing that. That would be… _mean_!"

Gatomon nodded, and looked at her through half-lidded eyes.

"It'd be fair to give them a chance, that is true. But honestly… can you see it work out? It's not like the two of them have _that_ much to rely on, and if they're going to keep on the way they currently are they'll break up within two weeks."

Kari refused to look at her partner, partially to show her disgust with the idea and partially because she wasn't sure how much she trusted that disgust any longer. "Then they'll have that chance. Love isn't about survival, it's about…" her voice trailed off, and her hands fell from the keyboard.

"It is about what? Achieving enlightenment?" the Digimon rolled over on her back and looked at her upside down. "I'm only saying that maybe it'd be better if you just spared them for the whole sordid breakup business and tried to find more suitable partners for them."

The wording of the last sentence relieved her. It was clear that in the eyes of Gatomon, the obvious choice of partner should be the one who was likely to be staying with you, and that the suggestion hadn't been as selfish as it had sounded. Or, probably hadn't been. After all, the Digimon spent the days watching soap opera while she was at school. She resumed her work.

"No, Gatomon, love isn't even about that, and I'm not going to do something like that because of Yolei. It probably wouldn't have helped, anyway."

"Izzy." The Digimon said, and nodded to herself, "Izzy would be good with TK."


End file.
